Another day, another cenote. On this dive I noticed that my pictures are way underexposed. The strobes were firing OK, but after I scanned the picture on the small camera screen, the were almost black. So I had to to start fiddling with the controls, instead of TTL setting, going full power and on many occasions, settling for light provided by handheld lights. Not until I arrived at home, after the trip, when I took off the diffusers, I found that the flash tubes were burned. On relatively new strobes. :(

Second dive of the day. So different from the morning one. All these cenote pictures are surely boring by now for the casual observer, "You've seen one cenote, you've seen them all". One reason I post them is to help others to choose, if this is what they would like to see and what all the different holes in the ground have to offer. They are different from each other, even if, sometimes, in just small details. La Gloria has broken columns and many tree roots hanging down from the overhead. Guided by Roman, the lineup today - Carl M. Kadie and Nanci Vaeth, followed by Maya and I closing the procession, taking more pictures of the fins in front of me

Casa Cenote. We visited it back on July 17, 2002 when our family toured the Yucatan peninsula Mayan ruins. We traveled light with only fins, masks and snorkels. No facilities of any kind, no signs, no fee to pay. We just jumped in and swim all over the place. I was so impressed that I vowed that I will come back some day. It took 16 years. This time we found it busy with hordes of divers and snorkelers and I had to fork out 500 pesos for my camera. Now I was planning to give Maya my point and shoot little Olympus TG-5 to take pictures of fish for which my 8mm lens is almost useless. But that required another 500 pesos, which I felt to be a ripoff and so we left it in the car. I was told, that every camera in a housing, regardless of size make you a professional photographer and so you must pay up. GoPro's are excluded, but I did not have one. We are joined for this dive by fellow Washingtonians, Carl & Nanci from Bellevue, Roman being our guide. I enjoyed the dive, for it was so different from the previous dives, no stalactites here, and plenty of sunshine not far away from us...

Amazing report on Hell's Bells! Actually amazing reports on all of them, but that cenote is by far my favorite one that you've shared. Those speleothems are incredible! Hopefully I will get to see them in person someday.

Another great dive guided by Dirk Penzel and assisted by Giosino Peppe Pasquariello. The Maravillas Hells Bells, rest in the fog like layer of hydrogen sulfide, giving the whole scene a mysterious tone. That made this time photography much more challenging. With limited visibility, I was not able to capture as much of the Hells Bells beauty as I was hoping for.

Thanks Jesse, more coming Juggling between Whidbey dives and Yucatan cenote dives, the differences could not be greater. The clear, mostly freshwater in Mexico and the cold, silty saltwater of Whidbey Island. Sifting through hundreds of pictures ...In the case of cenotes, there is a connection between the underworld of darkness and the lush, sun drenched jungle above, represented via tree roots, which descent from the overhead down to the fresh water of the cenotes...

Alaska Airline brought me back from the warm and clear tropical waters on Saturday night, and Sunday morning I found myself on the shores of Deception Pass. The tides were just too not to revisit my favorite Whidbey dive site. I found the visibility bad, about 8 murky feet, and what was even worse, the Finger sponges continue dying in alarming numbers. It was not a sight I was looking forward after diving in the cenotes, which in general, do not harbor almost zero living critters, save for few vertebrates in some of them. At this time, no other sponges seem to be affected.

Hell Bells of El Zapote cenote was the main reason I returned to Mexico's Yucatan peninsula. Somehow we missed it on our trip back in November, so when Maya told me that she will be attending the World Ocean Summit in Cancun, the Alaska Airlines voucher we got on last trip to Mexico became yet another reason why I just had to see the incredible underwater formations of El Zapote. Also the University of Heidelberg in Germany just published paper of their extensive work on the unique speleothems shining some light on the mysterious structures. And it did not disappoint. With the help of very capable guide of Dirk Penzel of Cenote-Diving.com, Maya and I had a fantastic experience diving along these amazing bells.

This shows that field identification of so many organisms just isn't possible. In this case, it required microscopic examination by an expert. It reminds me of a time when I had been diagnosed with a tapeworm. My physician narrowed it down to a few. We were going through the books together trying to find a match. For one species it read; "This can only be identified by an autopsy." I didn't have that one. Good work Jan.-Curt

I would like to give a big THANK YOU to the people who devote their time and talents to taxonomy. I just had an interesting experience involving sponge from Deception Pass. For many years I called it erroneously Glove Sponge (Neoesperiopsis digitata). Then last year it was brought to my attention that it might be Orange Finger Sponge ( Isodictya rigida). Sponges are notoriously difficult to identify. Colors, shapes and textures are not much help to correctly ID them. So when I collected specimen in order to start seeking an answer to why so many of them are dying, I received offer to correctly identify the Finger sponge of Deception Pass. Well, it was an educational journey, from tracing the origins of the sponge in 1893 to February 2018 when the microscopic examination revealed that it is Tan Finger Sponge - Isodictya quatsinoensis. Thank you, Bruce Ott

Alex,The path towards the search for the wasting of the Finger sponge is tied to the Sea Star Wasting Disease. The University of British Columbia was looking for a wasting sea stars, sending inquire to Friday Harbor Lab. They referred it to Cornell and they told them about me. By now it was harder to find a wasting stars, but I keep coming across some on my dives. So I agreed to look for them, they had to be live specimen, not preserved. UBC traveled to Whidbey, I managed to find one at Coupeville and during the conversation I mentioned the calamity of Finger sponges in the Pass, and they told me they will try to see if they can help. The rest is history. No problem to find sick sponge in Deception Pass, again a live specimen was collected and now I am waiting if some answer will be found...I attached the discovery of Thraustochytrids in the wasting Ochraeus star. This is NOT related to the sponges.I have to admit it is a bit over my head, by I enjoy taking part in the search for the culprits

Collecting sponge for UBC, these specimen to be kept alive, no freezer, no alcohol. Hopefully the reason for the wasting of these Deception Pass sponges will be found. From the quick observation on my last dive in bad visibility - the die off slowed down...

Deception Pass, February 9. Visibility is pretty bad lately in all the waters around Whidbey Island. The fish eye lens makes look better than it really is. I blame the recent rains and river floods. Checking on the sea stars and Orange finger sponges, from what I could tell by the limited visibility, the sponges did not accelerate their wasting and not one star found sick.

So I asked the marine critters how they feel about the stock marked going up and going down in such wild gyrations. All agreed that they go through the same, depending on the moon cycle. If it is full or new moon, the tides go crazy. Way up and way down. Time to be careful how you plan your dive. And when the first and third quarter moon shine, enjoy diving, even the current sensitive areas. Sounds like a good advice